


names and races

by Woodswolf



Series: in one universe [2]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Apocalypse, Everyone is Dead, F/M, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Grief/Mourning, Introspection, Loneliness, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 12:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18873133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woodswolf/pseuds/Woodswolf
Summary: "anything?" he asks quietly. his voice is barely a whisper over the crackling fire.she crosses her legs and stares into the fire. the only source of sound is their low, steady breathing and the small, sharp pops from the flames. she says nothing. he almost thinks she didn't hear the question, until, finally, she speaks."i -" she says, fighting with herself over what to say. "i think we're alone."(in one universe)they both exist, and that's about all there is to say.





	names and races

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [come find me in the afterglow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15063557) by [karasunonolibero](https://archiveofourown.org/users/karasunonolibero/pseuds/karasunonolibero). 



> part of a new series i've been working on over the past week or so. four short, related oneshots, each based on a panel from [this post](https://woodswolf-writes.tumblr.com/post/184905082525/unsends-in-one-universe). this first part is based on the top left panel.
> 
> another story i wrote a few years ago, [a love letter, maybe](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012367), is vaguely connected to this series, though it's not necessary to have read it to read this.
> 
> the title comes from the song "Names and Races" by Foreign Fields.

_(in one universe)_ they both exist, and that's about all there is to say.

it's been a long time since the dragon-god destroyed the world. it doesn't hurt to think about, at least as much as it used to. even if both of their sons, and their sons' friends, and her husband and his brother, and half the city on top of that, died that day.

it was something that happened, and now it's done, and there's nothing they can do about it.

they aren't lonely, though. they have each other. ever since that day when they climbed out of the rubble and debris, when they finally saw each other for the first time after so many days of chaos, they've had each other. and he couldn't let go if he tried.

it's getting cold in the workshop again. he throws another log in the furnace. the supply is getting low, but they won't have to chop another tree for a few days yet, probably. unless it starts getting colder.

(birchwood forest is always a temperature somewhere between "cold" and "slightly less cold". or it had been, for the forty or so years he lived here previously. but it might be a bit different now - everything is, ever since the sky turned black. ever since the sun stopped rising.)

she's been gone for a few days, but she should be back soon. either she'll have news or she won't - it doesn't matter either way to him. he prods the fire absently with the poker, feeds another few twigs in. he sits there for a while to absorb the heat into his bones.

and that's when _(in this universe)_ he hears the roar of the atv die, and she opens the heavy iron door and half-walks half-falls through the doorway. she collapses against the wall for a moment as the door falls shut. he adds another log to the furnace while she recovers.

eventually she makes her way down the spiral steps and collapses next to him where he's sitting by the furnace. she reaches out and fans her hands, spreading her fingers wide, then rubs them together, trying to warm them up faster.

"anything?" he asks quietly. his voice is barely a whisper over the crackling fire.

she crosses her legs and stares into the fire. the only source of sound is their low, steady breathing and the small, sharp pops from the flames. she says nothing. he almost thinks she didn't hear the question, until, finally, she speaks.

"i -" she says, fighting with herself over what to say. "i think we're alone."

he knows why she's been struggling to accept it. their new existence, like this. she's used to outside social interaction on a regular basis. talking with friends and neighbors and coworkers and strangers and everything in between. not all the time, sure, but often enough.

there's none of that here. as far as they know, they're the only people left in the entire world. everyone else is dead, or if they're not dead, they're hiding somewhere very, very far away, where no one can find them. just like they are.

he's used to only having one person around to talk to. he's been used to it for almost fifty years by now. but he wasn't always okay with it. he still remembers the first year of his self-imposed isolation out here, no one there but his son (and for a few months before that, no one at all).

it took a while to adjust. several times he'd felt like it would've been easier to just give up and go back home, to the city as it was then. sometimes he seriously considered it almost every day.

but he didn't. and she can't. so it's a moot point.

"so jamanakai was empty, then."

"and ignacia."

"what about stiix?"

he's been letting her adjust in her own way, like this. when she gets too stir crazy here, she goes. she takes the atv he built for her and she rides it for days, away, away, away. she rides until she feels like she's going to collapse and then she turns around and comes back.

she's been checking on the other towns, settlements, cities. going around and around, further away each time. and in each place she visits, she's driving up and down every street, looking in every house, checking every door.

and there's nothing. there's no one. everyone is gone.

"haven't checked stiix, but i don't know what would be the point."

"if it would help, then that's the point."

"i don't know if it would."

"then it's worth trying, isn't it?"

silence. he watches her. she seems to be sort of halfway curling up on herself. she hugs her knees to her chest and sets her head down on them.

he can't stand to see her like this, he realizes. so small and alone like this.

the fire gives a momentary loud crack, and he's snapped out of his thoughts.

"i'll always be here, you know," he says. "if you need anything."

she smiles, just a little bit. a small, cynical smile. "it's not like there's anywhere else for you to go."

"that's wrong," he says. because there is one other place he could go, ~~and one other person he could see,~~ but he can't, for lots of reasons. and it's not like he could get there either way. "i'm still here with you because i want to be."

"we're in your home."

"i don't have a home. not anymore."

she sighs. "i'm sorry, i just..."

"no, it's okay," he says. "i get it. it's... hard for you, still. and it will be for a while."

she seems to ponder this for a little while. then she makes a little noise like _hm._ "where was your home, then?"

"it wasn't a place," he says. "not really." he swallows nervously, trying to decide how to put it. "zane was my home. for a really, really long time."

they're both quiet after that, sitting and staring into the fire together. misako gets up briefly and adds another log and a few more twigs to the dying fire.

"home is where the heart is," she comments absently after a while.

"yeah," he says. "which is why i brought it up." then: "i'm not expecting anything. i just want you to know that i wouldn't mind. because i know it made it easier for me."

and she turns, and for a long moment she looks at him. he's staring at the fire, his face still unreadable after his half-confession. but she keeps staring at him, and she continues to for a long time.

 _(in this universe)_ the world is dying all around them. or maybe the world is alive and they're dead. or maybe it just is as it is.

as long as they have each other, it doesn't matter. and they do.


End file.
